Comprehensive Trademark Seminar held at Highland Heights in partnership with Law School

NKU Steely Library’s Intellectual Property Awareness Center (IPAC) and its campus NKU Chase Law + Informatics Institute collaborated in presenting a Comprehensive Trademark Seminar on Friday, June 5, 2015. Over 100 people attended the day-long event, which included expert speakers from the USPTO, WIPO, the Better Business Bureau, and the Inventor’s Council of Cincinnati. Both regional PTRCs were represented, with John Schlipp of NKU Steely Library and Linda Kocis of the Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County (OH) providing engaging intellectual property awareness sessions.

The seminar sessions targeted two audience groups: (1) an introductory track for business, business law attorneys, business students, and information-based professionals; and (2) an advanced track for attorneys and paralegals in trademark practice. CLE credits were available for legal professionals, while CEU credits were offered for business and information-based professionals upon request. See IPAC Sessions webpage for future programs.

The USPTO and WIPO were instrumental in their cooperative support of the event. Wood Herron & Evans, Cincinnati’s oldest intellectual law firm, graciously sponsored the program luncheon, while the following community organizations provided free advertising and promotion of the seminar: Better Business Bureau of Cincinnati, Small Business Development Center of Northern Kentucky, UpTech, CintriFuse, Inventor’s Council of Cincinnati, and the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.

Photo by Linda Kocis

Librarians teach students about
intellectual property at BookFest

Books written about mystery, magic, and intrigue are always popular with younger readers. Two such books were assigned to attract fifth and sixth grade students to read, and to attend workshops at NKU’s annual BookFest on May 4, 2012, while they also developed a better understanding of plagiarism, copyright, and more. Lessons from this Creative Thinking site were applied in these workshops utilizing the youth novels Masterpiece by Elise Broach and Scumble by Ingrid Law. Both books feature creative characters within their fast-paced storylines.

Analyzing the creativity of the characters of Masterpiece and Scumble engages young students. It helps them to proactively explore new directions to build stronger synthesizing research skills such as reflective writing, as well as information ethics and legal awareness. They learn to respect others’ intellectual works, to avoid plagiarism, and to become aware of copyrights, trademarks, and patents which could also apply to their own creative works.

The librarians presenting the workshops are specialists in intellectual property as part of their professional responsibilities. Linda Kocis manages a Patent and Trademark Resource Center at the Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County, while John Schlipp directs Steely Library’s new Intellectual Property Awareness Center (IPAC). Both partner together for many Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky regional programs involving intellectual property awareness for both the general public and NKU constituents ranging from inventors to musicians. The Book Discussion Lessons are within the Guide for Teachers section of this Creative Thinking site.

Young inventor shares basics
about product development

Andrea Brady, a marketing and licensing professional, and daughter Natalie shared some basics of new product development at NKU’s BookFest 2010 on May 14 at Northern Kentucky University.

Using a variety of products developed by independent inventors as examples, including 13-year-old Natalie’s products, (Booster Buddy and MyFear Zapper), they discussed four ways inventors use to spark their creativity when developing new ideas.

See Natalie and her mother talk more about this topic in the film at right.

Intellectual property experts answer questions during Inventorfest

Saturday, October 24, 2009 marked the fourth InventorFest held in the Tri-State region. This year a Young Inventors Showcase featured innovators and their prototype gadgets and gizmos. In addition, old and young inventors alike were able to hear a panel of experts discuss intellectual property. Those in attendance were able to get their questions answered from Don Kelly, a mechanical engineer licensed as a patent agent; David Lafkas, patent attorney; and Don Skaggs, inventor, product developer, and entrepreneur.

Four innovative product prototypes were displayed by seven students ranging from multiple sporting goods to an environmental-friendly waste discarding vehicle.

After the young inventors demonstrated their products to the InventorFest audience, presentations were offered by John Schlipp, an NKU librarian familiar with business and intellectual property resources, and Don Kelly. They helped guide families on how to do their own marketing and intellectual property research related to their inventions.

Watch this Creative Thinking website for future inventor and entrepreneur programs for students in the Cincinnati region.

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Invented practice method for pitchers

Developed concept for sorting trash into recyclables and non-recyclables